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Title: As A Matter Of Course

Author: Annie Payson Call

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AS A MATTER OF COURSE

I

INTRODUCTION

IN climbing a mountain, if we know the path and take it as a matter of course, we are free to enjoy the

beauties of the surrounding country If in the same journey we set a stone in the way and recognize our ability

to step over it, we do so at once, and save ourselves from tripping or from useless waste of time and thought

as to how we might best go round it

There are stones upon stones in every-day life which might be stepped over with perfect ease, but which,curiously enough, are considered from all sides and then tripped upon; and the result is a stubbing of the moraltoes, and a consequent irritation of the nervous system Or, if semi-occasionally one of these stones is steppedover as a matter of course, the danger is that attention is immediately called to the action by admiring friends,

or by the person himself, in a way so to tickle the nervous system that it amounts to an irritation, and causeshim to trip over the next stone, and finally tumble on his nose Then, if he is not wise enough to pick himself

up and walk on with the renewed ability of stepping over future stones, he remains on his nose far longer than

is either necessary or advisable.

These various stones in the way do more towards keeping a nervous system in a chronic state of irritation than

is imagined They are what might perhaps be called the outside elements of life These once normally faced,cease to exist as impediments, dwindle away, and finally disappear altogether

Thus we are enabled to get nearer the kernel, and have a growing realization of life itself

Civilization may give a man new freedom, a freedom beyond any power of description or conception, except

to those who achieve it, or it may so bind him body and soul that in moments when he recognizes his nervouscontractions he would willingly sell his hope of immortality to be a wild horse or tiger for the rest of his days.These stones in the way are the result of a perversion of civilization, and the cause of much contraction andunnecessary suffering

There is the physical stone If the health of the body were attended to as a matter of course, as its cleanliness isattended to by those of us who are more civilized, how much easier life might be! Indeed, the various

trippings on, and endeavors to encircle, this physical stone, raise many phantom stones, and the severity of thefall is just as great when one trips over a stone that is not there Don Quixote was quite exhausted when he hadbeen fighting the windmills One recognizes over and over the truth spoken by the little girl who, whenreprimanded by her father for being fretful, said: "It isn't me, papa, it's that banana."

There is also the over-serious stone; and this, so far from being stepped over or any effort made to encircle it,

is often raised to the undue dignity of a throne, and not rested upon It seems to produce an inability for anysort of recreation, and a scorn of the necessity or the pleasure of being amused Every one will admit thatrecreation is one swing of life's pendulum; and in proportion to the swing in that direction will be the strength

of the swing in the other direction, and vice versa

One kind of stone which is not the least among the self-made impediments is the microscopic faculty whichmost of us possess for increasing small, inoffensive pebbles to good-sized rocks A quiet insistence on seeingthese pebbles in their natural size would reduce them shortly to a pile of sand which might be easily smoothed

to a level, and add to the comfort of the path Moods are stones which not only may be stepped over, butkicked right out of the path with a good bold stroke And the stones of intolerance may be replaced by an opensympathy, an ability to take the other's point of view, which will bring flowers in the path instead

In dealing with ourselves and others there are stones innumerable, if one chooses to regard them, and a

steadily decreasing number as one steps over and ignores In our relations with illness and poverty, so-called,the ghosts of stones multiply themselves as the illness or the poverty is allowed to be a limit rather than aguide And there is nothing that exorcises all such ghosts more truly than a free and open intercourse withlittle children

If we take this business of slipping over our various nerve-stones as a matter of course, and not as a matter ofsentiment, we get a powerful result just as surely as we get powerful results in obedience to any other practicallaws

In bygone generations men used to fight and kill one another for the most trivial cause As civilization

increased, self-control was magnified into a virtue, and the man who governed himself and allowed hisneighbor to escape unslain was regarded as a hero Subsequently, general slashing was found to be

incompatible with a well-ordered community, and forbearance in killing or scratching or any other unseemlymanner of attacking an enemy was taken as a matter of course

Nowadays we do not know how often this old desire to kill is repressed, a brain-impression of hatred thereby

intensified, and a nervous irritation caused which has its effect upon the entire disposition It would hardly befeasible to return to the killing to save the irritation that follows repression; civilization has taken us too far forthat But civilization does not necessarily mean repression There are many refinements of barbarity in ourcivilization which might be dropped now, as the coarser expressions of such states were dropped by ourancestors to enable them to reach the present stage of knives and forks and napkins And inasmuch as we arefarther on the way towards a true civilization, our progress should be more rapid than that of our barbaricgrandfathers An increasingly accelerated progress has proved possible in scientific research and discovery;why not, then, in our practical dealings with ourselves and one another?

Does it not seem likely that the various forms of nervous irritation, excitement, or disease may result as muchfrom the repressed savage within us as from the complexity of civilization? The remedy is, not to let thesavage have his own way; with many of us, indeed, this would be difficult, because of the generations ofrepression behind us It is to cast his skin, so to speak, and rise to another order of living

Certainly repression is only apparent progress No good physician would allow it in bodily disease, and, oncareful observation, the law seems to hold good in other phases of life

There must be a practical way by which these stones, these survivals of barbaric times, may be stepped overand made finally to disappear

The first necessity is to take the practical way, and not the sentimental Thus true sentiment is found, not lost.The second is to follow daily, even hourly, the process of stepping over until it comes to be indeed a matter ofcourse So, little by little, shall we emerge from this mass of abnormal nervous irritation into what is moretruly life itself

There is a current of physical order which, if one once gets into it, gives an instinct as to what to do and what

to leave undone, as true as the instinct which leads a man to wash his hands when they need it, and to washthem often enough so that they never remain soiled for any length of time, simply because that state is

uncomfortable to their owner Soap and water are not unpleasant to most of us in their process of cleansing;

we have to deny ourselves nothing through their use To keep the digestion in order, it is often necessary todeny ourselves certain sensations of the palate which are pleasant at the time So by a gradual process of notdenying we are swung out of the instinctive nourishment-current, and life is complicated for us either by anamount of thought as to what we should or should not eat, or by irritations which arise from having eaten thewrong food It is not uncommon to find a mind taken up for some hours in wondering whether that last piece

of cake will digest We can easily see how from this there might be developed a nervous sensitiveness abouteating which would prevent the individual from eating even the food that is nourishing This last is a notunusual form of dyspepsia, a dyspepsia which keeps itself alive on the patient's want of nourishment

Fortunately the process of getting back into the true food-current is not difficult if one will adopt it Thetrouble is in making the bold plunge If anything is eaten that is afterwards deemed to have been imprudent,let it disagree Take the full consequences and bear them like a man, with whatever remedies are found tolighten the painful result Having made sure through bitter experience that a particular food disagrees, simply

do not take it again, and think nothing about it It does not exist for you A nervous resistance to any sort ofindigestion prolongs the attack and leaves, a brain-impression which not only makes the same trouble moreliable to recur, but increases the temptation to eat forbidden fruit Of course this is always preceded by a fullpersuasion that the food is not likely to disagree with us now simply because it did before And to someextent, this is true Food that will bring pain and suffering when taken by a tired stomach, may prove entirelynourishing when the stomach is rested and ready for it In that case, the owner of the stomach has learned oncefor all never to give his digestive apparatus work to do when it is tired Send a warm drink as a messenger tosay that food is coming later, give yourself a little rest, and then eat your dinner The fundamental laws ofhealth in eating are very simple; their variations for individual needs must be discovered by each for himself.

"But," it may be objected, "why make all this fuss, why take so much thought about what I eat or what I donot eat?" The special thought is simply to be taken at first to get into the normal habit, and as a means offorgetting our digestion just as we forget the washing of our hands until we are reminded by some discomfort;whereupon we wash them and forget again Nature will not allow us to forget When we are not obeying herlaws, she is constantly irritating us in one way or another It is when we obey, and obey as a matter of course,that she shows herself to be a tender mother, and helps us to a real companionship with her

Nothing is more amusing, nothing could appeal more to Mother Nature's sense of humor, than the variousdevices for exercise which give us a complicated self-consciousness rather than a natural development of ourphysical powers Certain simple exercises are most useful, and if the weather is so inclement that they cannot

be taken in the open air, it is good to have a well-ventilated hall Exercise with others, too, is stimulating, andmore invigorating when there is air enough and to spare But there is nothing that shows the subjective,self-conscious state of this generation more than the subjective form which exercise takes Instead of gamesand play or a good vigorous walk in the country, there are endless varieties of physical culture, most of it goodand helpful if taken as a means to an end, but almost useless as it is taken as an end in itself; for it draws theattention to one's self and one's own muscles in a way to make the owner serve the muscle instead of themuscle being made to serve the owner The more physical exercise can be simplified and made objective, themore it serves its end To climb a high mountain is admirable exercise, for we have the summit as an end, andthe work of climbing is steadily objective, while we get the delicious effect of a freer circulation and all that itmeans There might be similar exercises in gymnasiums, and there are, indeed, many exercises where someobjective achievement is the end, and the training of a muscle follows as a matter of course There is theexercise-instinct; we all have it the more perfectly as we obey it If we have suffered from a series of

disobediences, it is a comparatively easy process to work back into obedience

The fresh-air-instinct is abnormally developed with some of us, but only with some The popular fear ofdraughts is one cause of its loss The fear of a draught will cause a contraction, the contraction will interferewith the circulation, and a cold is the natural result

The effect of vitiated air is well known The necessity, not only for breathing fresh air when we are quiet, butfor exercising in the open, grows upon us as we see the result To feel the need is to take the remedy, as amatter of course

The rest-instinct is most generally disobeyed, most widely needed, and obedience to it would bring the mosteffective results A restful state of mind and body prepares one for the best effects from exercise, fresh air, andnourishment This instinct is the more disobeyed because with the need for rest there seems to come aninability to take it, so that not only is every impediment magnified, but imaginary impediments are erected,and only a decided and insistent use of the will in dropping everything that interferes, whether real or

imaginary, will bring a whiff of a breeze from the true rest-current Rest is not always silence, but silence isalways rest; and a real silence of the mind is known by very few Having gained that, or even approached it,

we are taken by the rest-wind itself, and it is strong enough to bear our full weight as it swings us along torenewed life and new strength for work to come

The secret is to turn to silence at the first hint from nature; and sleep should be the very essence of silenceitself.

All this would be very well if we were free to take the right amount of rest, fresh air, exercise, and

nourishment; but many of us are not It will not be difficult for any one to call to mind half a dozen personswho impede the good which might result from the use of these four necessities simply by complaining thatthey cannot have their full share of either Indeed, some of us may find in ourselves various stones of this sortstopping the way To take what we can and be thankful, not only enables us to gain more from every source ofhealth, but opens the way for us to see clearly how to get more This complaint, however, is less of an

impediment than the whining and fussing which come from those who are free to take all four in abundance,and who have the necessity of their own especial physical health so much at heart that there is room to think

of little else These people crowd into the various schools of physical culture by the hundred, pervade therest-cures, and are ready for any new physiological fad which may arise, with no result but more physicalculture, more rest-cure, and more fads Nay, there is sometimes one other result, disease That gives themsomething tangible to work for or to work about But all their eating and breathing and exercising and restingdoes not bring lasting vigorous health, simply because they work at it as an end, of which self is the centre andcircumference

The sooner our health-instinct is developed, and then taken as a matter of course, the sooner can the bodybecome a perfect servant, to be treated with true courtesy, and then forgotten Here is an instinct of our

barbarous ancestry which may be kept and refined through all future phases of civilization This instinct isnatural, and the obedience to it enables us to gain more rapidly in other, higher instincts which, if our

ancestors had at all, were so embryonic as not to have attained expression

Nourishment, fresh air, exercise, rest, so far as these are not taken simply and in obedience to the naturalinstinct, there arise physical stones in the way, stones that form themselves into an apparently insurmountablewall There is a stile over that wall, however, if we will but open our eyes to see it This stile, carefully

climbed, will enable us to step over the few stones on the other side, and follow the physical path quite

clearly

III

AMUSEMENTS

THE ability to be easily and heartily amused brings a wholesome reaction from intense thought or hard work

of any kind which does more towards keeping the nervous system in a normal state than almost anything else

of an external kind

As a Frenchman very aptly said: "This is all very well, all this study and care to relieve one's nerves; butwould it not be much simpler and more effective to go and amuse one's self ?" The same Frenchman could notrealize that in many countries amusement is almost a lost art Fortunately, it is not entirely lost; and the sooner

it is regained, the nearer we shall be to health and happiness

One of the chief impediments in the way of hearty amusement is over-seriousness There should be two wordsfor "serious," as there are literally two meanings There is a certain intense form of taking the care and

responsibility of one's own individual interests, or the interests of others which are selfishly made one's own,which leads to a surface-seriousness that is not only a chronic irritation of the nervous system, but a constant

distress to those who come under this serious care This is taking life au grand serieux The superficiality of

this attitude is striking, and would be surprising could the sufferer from such seriousness once see himself (ormore often it is herself) in a clear light It is quite common to call such a person over-serious, when in reality

he is not serious enough He or she is laboring under a sham seriousness, as an actor might who had such apart to play and merged himself in the character These people are simply exaggerating their own importance

to life, instead of recognizing life's importance to them An example of this is the heroine of Mrs Ward's

"Robert Elsmere," who refused to marry because the family could not get on without her; and when finallyshe consented, the family lived more happily and comfortably than when she considered herself their leader Ifthis woman's seriousness, which blinded her judgment, had been real instead of sham, the state of the casewould have been quite clear to her; but then, indeed, there would have been no case at all

When seriousness is real, it is never intrusive and can never be overdone It is simply a quiet, steady

obedience to recognized laws followed as a matter of course, which must lead to a clearer appreciation of suchlaws, and of our own freedom in obeying them Whereas with a sham seriousness we dwell upon the

importance of our own relation to the law, and our own responsibility in forcing others to obey With the real,

it is the law first, and then my obedience With the sham, it is myself first, and then the laws; and often astrained obedience to laws of my own making

This sham seriousness, which is peculiarly a New England trait, but may also be found in many other parts ofthe world, is often the perversion of a strong, fine nature It places many stones in the way, most of themphantoms, which, once stepped over and then ignored, brings to light a nature nobly expansive, and a source

of joy to all who come in contact with it But so long as the "seriousness "lasts, it is quite incompatible withany form of real amusement

For the very essence of amusement is the child-spirit The child throws himself heartily and spontaneouslyinto the game, or whatever it may be, and forgets that there is anything else in the world, for the time being.Children have nothing else to remember We have the advantage of them there, in the pleasure of forgettingand in the renewed strength with which we can return to our work or care, in consequence Any one whocannot play children's games with children, and with the same enjoyment that children have, does not knowthe spirit of amusement For this same spirit must be taken into all forms of amusement, especially those thatare beyond the childish mind, to bring the delicious reaction which nature is ever ready to bestow This isalmost a self-evident truth; and yet so confirmed is man in his sham maturity that it is quite common to seeone look with contempt, and a sense of superiority which is ludicrous, upon another who is enjoying a child'sgame like a child The trouble is that many of us are so contracted in and oppressed by our own

self-consciousness that open spontaneity is out of the question and even inconceivable The sooner we shake itoff, the better When the great philosopher said, "Except ye become as little children," he must have meant itall the way through in spirit, if not in the letter It certainly is the common-sense view, whichever way we look

at it, and proves as practical as walking upon one's feet

With the spontaneity grows the ability to be amused, and with that ability comes new power for better andreally serious work

To endeavor with all your might to win, and then if you fail, not to care, relieves a game of an immenseamount of unnecessary nervous strain A spirit of rivalry has so taken hold of us and become such a largestone in the way, that it takes wellnigh a reversal of all our ideas to realize that this same spirit is quite

compatible with a good healthy willingness that the other man should win if he can Not from the

goody-goody motive of wishing your neighbor to beat, no neighbor would thank you for playing with him inthat spirit, but from a feeling that you have gone in to beat, you have done your best, as far as you could see,and where you have not, you have learned to do better The fact of beating is not of paramount importance.Every man should have his chance, and, from your opponent's point of view, provided you were as severe onhim as you knew how to be at the time, it is well that he won You will see that it does not happen again.Curious it is that the very men or women who would scorn to play a child's game in a childlike spirit, willshow the best known form of childish fretfulness and sheer naughtiness in their way of taking a game which isconsidered to be more on a level with the adult mind, and so rasp their nerves and the nerves of their

opponents that recreation is simply out of the question

Whilst one should certainly have the ability to enjoy a child's game with a child and like a child, that not onlydoes not exclude the preference which many, perhaps most of us may have for more mature games, it givesthe power to play those games with a freedom and ease which help to preserve a healthy nervous system.

If, however, amusement is taken for the sole purpose of preserving a normal nervous system, or for returning

to health, it loses its zest just in proportion If, as is often the case, one must force one's self to it at first, thelove of the fun will gradually come as one ignores the first necessity of forcing; and the interest will comesooner if a form of amusement is taken quite opposite to the daily work, a form which will bring new facultiesand muscles into action

There is, of course, nothing that results in a more unpleasant state of ennui than an excess of amusement.After a certain amount of careless enjoyment, life comes to a deadly stupid standstill, or the forms of

amusement grow lower In either case the effect upon the nervous system is worse even than over-work.The variety in sources of amusement is endless, and the ability to get amusement out of almost anything isdelightful, as long as it is well balanced

After all, our amusement depends upon the way in which we take our work, and our work, again, dependsupon the amusement; they play back and forth into one another's hands

The man or the woman who cannot get the holiday spirit, who cannot enjoy pure fun for the sake of fun, whocannot be at one with a little child, not only is missing much in life that is clear happiness, but is draining hisnervous system, and losing his better power for work accordingly

This anti-amusement stone once removed, the path before us is entirely new and refreshing

The power to be amused runs in nations But each individual is in himself a nation, and can govern himself assuch; and if he has any desire for the prosperity of his own kingdom, let him order a public holiday at regularintervals, and see that the people enjoy it

IV

BRAIN IMPRESSIONS

THE mere idea of a brain clear from false impressions gives a sense of freedom which is refreshing

In a comic journal, some years ago, there was a picture of a man in a most self-important attitude, with twocommon mortals in the background gazing at him "What makes him stand like that?" said one "Because,"answered the other, "that is his own idea of himself." The truth suggested in that picture strikes one aghast; for

in looking about us we see constant examples of attitudinizing in one's own idea of one's self There is

sometimes a feeling of fright as to whether I am not quite as abnormal in my idea of myself as are those aboutme

If one could only get the relief of acknowledging ignorance of one's self, light would be welcome, howevergiven In seeing the truth of an unkind criticism one could forget to resent the spirit; and what an amount ofnerve-friction might be saved! Imagine the surprise of a man who, in return for a volley of abuse, shouldreceive thanks for light thrown upon a false attitude Whatever we are enabled to see, relieves us of onemistaken brain-impression, which we can replace by something more agreeable And if, in the excitement offeeling, the mistake was exaggerated, what is that to us? All we wanted was to see it in quality As to degree,that lessens in proportion as the quality is bettered Fortunately, in living our own idea of ourselves, it is onlyourselves we deceive, with possible exceptions in the case of friends who are so used to us, or so over-fond of

us, as to lose the perspective

There is the idea of humility, an obstinate belief that we know we are nothing at all, and deserve no credit;which, literally translated, means we know we are everything, and deserve every credit There is the idea, too,

of immense dignity, of freedom from all self-seeking and from all vanity But it is idle to attempt to cataloguethese various forms of private theatricals; they are constantly to be seen about us

It is with surprise unbounded that one hears another calmly assert that he is so-and-so or so-and-so, and in hisnext action, or next hundred actions, sees that same assertion entirely contradicted Daily familiarity with themanifestations of mistaken brain- impressions does not lessen one's surprise at this curious personal

contradiction; it gives one an increasing desire to look to one's self, and see how far these private theatricalsextend in one's own case, and to throw off the disguise, as far as it is seen, with a full acknowledgment thatthere may be probably is an abundance more of which to rid one's self in future There are many ways inwhich true openness in life, one with another, would be of immense service; and not the least of these is theability gained to erase false brain-impressions

The self-condemnatory brain-impression is quite as pernicious as its opposite Singularly enough, it goes with

it One often finds inordinate self-esteem combined with the most abject condemnation of self One can beplayed against the other as a counter-irritant; but this only as a process of rousing, for the irritation of eitherbrings equal misery I am not even sure that as a rousing process it is ever really useful To be clear of amistaken brain-impression, a man must recognize it himself; and this recognition can never be brought about

by an unasked attempt of help from another It is often cleared by help asked and given; and perhaps moreoften by help which is quite involuntary and unconscious One of the greatest points in friendly diplomacy is

to be open and absolutely frank so far as we are asked, but never to go beyond At least, in the experience ofmany, that leads more surely to the point where no diplomacy is needed, which is certainly the point to beaimed at in friendship It is trying to see a friend living his own idea of himself, and to be obliged to wait until

he has discovered that he is only playing a part But this very waiting may be of immense assistance in

reducing our own moral attitudinizing

How often do we hear others or find ourselves complaining of a fault over and over again! "I know that is afault of mine, and has been for years I wish I could get over it." "I know that is a fault of mine," one

brain-impression; "it has been for years," a dozen or more brain-impressions, according to the number ofyears; until we have drilled the impression of that fault in, by emphasizing it over and over, to an extent whichdaily increases the difficulty of dropping it

So, if we have the habit of unpunctuality, and emphasize it by deploring it, it keeps us always behind time If

we are sharp-tongued, and dwell with remorse on something said in the past, it increases the tendency in thefuture

The slavery to nerve habit is a well-known physiological fact; but nerve habit may be strengthened negatively

as well as positively When this is more widely recognized, and the negative practice avoided, much will havebeen done towards freeing us from our subservience to mistaken brain-impressions

Let us take an instance: unpunctuality-for example, as that is a common form of repetition If we really want

to rid ourselves of the habit, suppose every time we are late we cease to deplore it; make a vivid mentalpicture of ourselves as being on time at the next appointment; then, with the how and the when clearly

impressed upon our minds, there should be an absolute refusal to imagine ourselves anything but early Surelythat would be quite as effective as a constant repetition of the regret we feel at being late, whether this isrepeated aloud to others, or only in our own minds As we place the two processes side by side, the lattercertainly has the advantage, and might be tried, until a better is found

Of course we must beware of getting an impression of promptness which has no ground in reality It is quitepossible for an individual to be habitually and exasperatingly late, with all the air and innocence of unusualpunctuality

It would strike us as absurd to see a man painting a house the color he did not like, and go on painting it thesame color, to show others and himself that which he detested Is it not equally absurd for any of us, throughthe constant expression of regret for a fault, to impress the tendency to it more and more upon the brain? It isintensely sad when the consciousness of evil once committed has so impressed a man with a sense of guilt as

to make him steadily undervalue himself and his own powers

Here is a case where one's own idea of one's self is seventy-five per cent below par; and a gentle and

consistent encouragement in raising that idea is most necessary before par is reached

And par, as I understand it, is simple freedom from any fixed idea of one's self, either good or bad

If fixed impressions of one's self are stones in the way, the same certainly holds good with fixed impressions

of others Unpleasant brain-impressions of others are great weights, and greater impediments in the way ofclearing our own brains Suppose So- and-so had such a fault yesterday; it does not follow that he has not ridhimself of at least part of it to-day Why should we hold the brain-impression of his mistake, so that everytime we look at him we make it stronger? He is not the gainer thereby, and we certainly are the losers

Repeated brain-impressions of another's faults prevent our discerning his virtues We are constantly

attributing to him disagreeable motives, which arise solely from our idea of him, and of which he is quiteinnocent Not only so, but our mistaken impressions increase his difficulty in rising to the best of himself Forany one whose temperament is in the least sensitive is oppressed by what he feels to be another's idea of him,until he learns to clear himself of that as well as of other brain-impressions

It is not uncommon to hear one go over and over a supposed injury, or even small annoyances from others,with the reiterated assertion that he fervently desires to forget such injury or annoyances This fervent desire

to forgive and forget expresses itself by a repeated brain-impression of that which is to be forgiven; and if this

is so often repeated in words, how many times more must it be repeated mentally! Thus, the brain-impression

is increased until at last forgetting seems out of the question And forgiving is impossible unless one can at thesame time so entirely forget the ill-feeling roused as to place it beyond recall

Surely, if we realized the force and influence of unpleasant brain-impressions, it would be a simple matter torelax and let them escape, to be replaced by others that are only pleasant It cannot be that we enjoy the

discomfort of the disagreeable impressions

And yet, so curiously perverted is human nature that we often hear a revolting story told with the preface,

"Oh, I can't bear to think of it! "And the whole story is given, with a careful attention to detail which is quiteunnecessary, even if there were any reason for telling the story at all, and generally concluded with a

repetition of the prefatory exclamation How many pathetic sights are told of, to no end but the repetition of

an unpleasant brain-impression How many past experiences, past illnesses, are gone over and over, whichserve the same worse than useless purpose, that of repeating and emphasizing the brain-impression

A little pain is made a big one by persistent dwelling upon it; what might have been a short pain is sometimeslengthened for a lifetime Similarly, an old pain is brought back by recalling a brain-impression

The law of association is well known We all know how familiar places and happenings will recall old

feelings; we can realize this at any time by mentally reviving the association By dwelling on the pain we hadyesterday we are encouraging it to return to-morrow By emphasizing the impression of an annoyance ofto-day we are making it possible to suffer beyond expression from annoyances to come; and the annoyances,the pains, the disagreeable feelings will find their old brain-grooves with remarkable rapidity when given theghost of a chance

I have known more than one case where a woman kept herself ill by the constant repetition, to others and toherself, of a nervous shock A woman who had once been frightened by burglars refused to sleep for fear of

being awakened by more burglars, thus increasing her impression of fear; and of course, if she slept at all, shewas liable at any time to wake with a nervous start The process of working herself into nervous prostrationthrough this constant, useless repetition was not slow.

The fixed impressions of preconceived ideas in any direction are strangely in the way of real freedom It isdifficult to catch new harmonies with old ones ringing in our ears; still more difficult when we persist inlistening at the same time to discords

The experience of arguing with another whose preconceived idea is so firmly fixed that the argument isnothing but a series of circles, might be funny if it were not sad; and it often is funny, in spite of the sadness.Suppose we should insist upon retaining an unpleasant brain-impression, only when and so long as it seemednecessary in order to bring a remedy That accomplished, suppose we dropped it on the instant Suppose,further, that we should continue this process, and never allow ourselves to repeat a disagreeable

brain-impression aloud or mentally Imagine the result Nature abhors a vacuum; something must come inplace of the unpleasantness; therefore way is made for feelings more comfortable to one's self and to others.Bad feelings cause contraction, good ones expansion Relax the muscular contraction; take a long, free breath

of fresh air, and expansion follows as a matter of course Drop the brain-contraction, take a good inhalation ofwhatever pleasant feeling is nearest, and the expansion is a necessary consequence

As we expand mentally, disagreeable brain-impressions, that in former contracted states were eclipsed bygreater ones, will be keenly felt, and dropped at once, for the mere relief thus obtained

The healthier the brain, the more sensitive it is to false impressions, and the more easily are they dropped.One word by way of warning We never can rid ourselves of an uncomfortable brain-impression by saying, "Iwill try to think something pleasant of that disagreeable man." The temptation, too, is very common to say toourselves clearly, "I will try to think something pleasant," and then leave "of that disagreeable man" a subtlefeeling in the background The feeling in the background, however unconscious we may be of it, is a strongbrain-impression, all the stronger because we fail to recognize it, and the result of our "something pleasant"

is an insidious complacency at our own magnanimous disposition Thus we get the disagreeable

brain-impression of another, backed up by our agreeable brain-impression of ourselves, both mistaken Unless

we keep a sharp look-out, we may here get into a snarl from which extrication is slow work Neither is itpossible to counteract an unpleasant brain-impression by something pleasant but false We must call a spade aspade, but not consider it a component part of the man who handles it, nor yet associate the man with thespade, or the spade with the man When we drop it, so long as we drop it for what it is worth, which is nothing

in the case of the spade in question, we have dropped it entirely If we try to improve our brain-impression byinsisting that a spade is something better and pleasanter, we are transforming a disagreeable impression to amongrel state which again brings anything but a happy result

Simply to refuse all unpleasant brain-impressions, with no effort or desire to recast them into something thatthey are not, seems to be the only clear process to freedom Not only so, but whatever there might have beenpleasant in what seemed entirely unpleasant can more truly return as we drop the unpleasantness completely

It is a good thing that most of us can approach the freedom of such a change in imagination before we reach it

in reality So we can learn more rapidly not to hamper ourselves or others by retaining disagreeable

brain-impressions of the present, or by recalling others of the past

V

THE TRIVIALITY OF TRIVIALITIES

LIFE is clearer, happier, and easier for us as things assume their true proportions I might better say, as theycome nearer in appearance to their true proportions; for it seems doubtful whether any one ever reaches theplace in this world where the sense of proportion is absolutely normal Some come much nearer than others;and part of the interest of living is the growing realization of better proportion, and the relief from the

abnormal state in which circumstances seem quite out of proportion in their relation to one another

Imagine a landscape-painter who made his cows as large as the houses, his blades of grass waving above thetops of the trees, and all things similarly disproportionate Or, worse, imagine a disease of the retina whichcaused a like curious change in the landscape itself wherein a mountain appeared to be a mole-hill, and amole-hill a mountain

It seems absurd to think of And, yet, is not the want of a true sense of proportion in the circumstances andrelations of life quite as extreme with many of us? It is well that our physical sense remains intact If we lostthat too, there would seem to be but little hope indeed Now, almost the only thing needed for a rapid

approach to a more normal mental sense of proportion is a keener recognition of the want But this want must

be found first in ourselves, not in others There is the inclination to regard our own life as bigger and moreimportant than the life of any one about us; or the reverse attitude of bewailing its lack of importance, which

is quite the same In either case our own life is dwelt upon first Then there is the immediate family, after thatour own especial friends, all assuming a gigantic size which puts quite out of the question an occasionalbird's-eye view of the world in general Even objects which might be in the middle distance of a less extendedview are quite screened by the exaggerated size of those which seem to concern us most immediately

One's own life is important; one's own family and friends are important, very, when taken in their true

proportion One should surely be able to look upon one's own brothers and sisters as if they were the brothersand sisters of another, and to regard the brothers and sisters of another as one's own Singularly, too, realappreciation of and sympathy with one's own grows with this broader sense of relationship In no way is thissense shown more clearly than by a mother who has the breadth and the strength to look upon her own

children as if they belonged to some one else, and upon the children of others as if they belonged to her Butthe triviality of magnifying one's own out of all proportion has not yet been recognized by many

So every trivial happening in our own lives or the lives of those connected with us is exaggerated, and wekeep ourselves and others in a chronic state of contraction accordingly

Think of the many trifles which, by being magnified and kept in the foreground, obstruct the way to allpossible sight or appreciation of things that really hold a more important place The cook, the waitress, variousother annoyances of housekeeping; a gown that does not suit, the annoyances of travel, whether we said theright thing to so-and-so, whether so-and-so likes us or does not like us, indeed, there is an immense army oftrivial imps, and the breadth of capacity for entertaining these imps is so large in some of us as to be trulyencouraging; for if the domain were once deserted by the imps, there remains the breadth, which must havethe same capacity for holding something better Unfortunately, a long occupancy by these miserable littleoffenders means eventually the saddest sort of contraction What a picture for a new Gulliver! a human beingoverwhelmed by the imps of triviality, and bound fast to the ground by manifold windings of their

cobweb-sized thread

This exaggeration of trifles is one form of nervous disease It would be exceedingly interesting and profitable

to study the various phases of nervous disease as exaggerated expressions of perverted character They can betraced directly and easily in many cases If a woman fusses about trivialities, she fusses more when she istired The more fatigue, the more fussing; and with a persistent tendency to fatigue and fussing it does not takelong to work up or down to nervous prostration From this form of nervous excitement one never reallyrecovers, except by a hearty acknowledgment of the trivialities as trivialities, when, with growing health, there

is a growing sense of true proportion

I have seen a woman spend more attention, time, and nerve-power on emphasizing the fact that her handswere all stained from the dye on her dress than a normal woman would take for a good hour's work As shegrew better, this emphasizing of trivialities decreased, but, of course, might have returned with any

over-fatigue, unless it had been recognized, taken at its worth, and simply dropped Any one can think ofexample after example in his own individual experience, when he has suffered unnecessary tortures throughthe regarding of trifling things, either by himself or by some one near him With many, the first instance will

probably be to insist, with emphasis and some feeling, that they are not trivialities.

Trivialities have their importance when given their true proportion The size of a triviality is often

exaggerated as much by neglect as by an undue amount of attention When we do what we can to amend anannoyance, and then think no more about it until there appears something further to do, the saving of nervousforce is very great Yet, so successful have these imps of triviality come to be in their rule of human naturethat the trivialities of the past are oftentimes dwelt upon with as much earnestness as if they belonged to thepresent

The past itself is a triviality, except in its results Yet what an immense screen it is sometimes to any clearunderstanding or appreciation of the present! How many of us have listened over and over to the same tale ofpast annoyances, until we wonder how it can be possible that the constant repetition is not recognized by thenarrator! How many of us have been over and over in our minds past troubles, little and big, so that we have

no right whatever to feel impatient when listening to such repetitions by others! Here again we have, innervous disease, the extreme of a common trait in humanity With increased nervous fatigue there is always

an increase of the tendency to repetition Best drop it before it gets to the fatigue stage, if possible

Then again there are the common things of life, such as dressing and undressing, and the numberless

every-day duties It is possible to distort them to perfect monstrosities by the manner of dwelling upon them.Taken as a matter of course, they are the very triviality of trivialities, and assume their place without secondthought

When life seems to get into such a snarl that we despair of disentangling it, a long journey and change ofhuman surroundings enable us to take a distant view, which not uncommonly shows the tangle to be no tangle

at all Although we cannot always go upon a material journey, we can change the mental perspective, and it isthis adjustment of the focus which brings our perspective into truer proportions Having once found whatappears to be the true focus, let us be true to it The temptations to lose one's focus are many, and sometimessevere When temporarily thrown off our balance, the best help is to return at once, without dwelling on thefact that we have lost the focus longer than is necessary to find it again After that, our focus is better adjustedand the range steadily expanded It is impossible for us to widen the range by thinking about it; holding thebest focus we know in our daily experience does that Thus the proportions arrange themselves; we cannotarrange the proportions Or, what is more nearly the truth, the proportions are in reality true, to begin with Aswith the imaginary eye-disease, which transformed the relative sizes of the component parts of a landscape,the fault is in the eye, not in the landscape; so, when the circumstances of life are quite in the wrong

proportion to one another, in our own minds, the trouble is in the mental sight, not in the circumstances.There are many ways of getting a better focus, and ridding one's self of trivial annoyances One is, to be quiet;get at a good mental distance Be sure that you have a clear view, and then hold it Always keep your distance;never return to the old stand-point if you can manage to keep away

We may be thankful if trivialities annoy us as trivialities It is with those who have the constant habit ofdwelling on them without feeling the discomfort that a return to freedom seems impossible

As one comes to realize, even in a slight degree, the triviality of trivialities, and then forget them entirely in abetter idea of true proportion, the sense of freedom gained is well worth working for It certainly brings thepossibility of a normal nervous system much nearer

MOODS

RELIEF from the mastery of an evil mood is like fresh air after having been several hours in a close room

If one should go to work deliberately to break up another's nervous system, and if one were perfectly free inmethods of procedure, the best way would be to throw upon the victim in rapid sequence a long series of themost extreme moods The disastrous result could be hastened by insisting that each mood should be resisted

as it manifested itself, for then there would be the double strain, the strain of the mood, and the strain ofresistance It is better to let a mood have its way than to suppress it The story of the man who suffered fromvaricose veins and was cured by the waters of Lourdes, only to die a little later from an affection of the heartwhich arose from the suppression of the former disease, is a good illustration of the effect of

mood-suppression In the case cited, death followed at once; but death from repeated impressions of moodsresisted is long drawn out, and the suffering intense, both for the patient and for his friends

The only way to drop a mood is to look it in the face and call it by its right name; then by persistent ignoring,sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, finally drop it altogether It takes a looser hold next time, andeventually slides off entirely To be sure, over-fatigue, an attack of indigestion, or some unexpected contactwith the same phase in another, may bring back the ghost of former moods These ghosts may even

materialize, unless the practice of ignoring is at once referred to; but they can ultimately be routed completely

A great help in gaining freedom from moods is to realize clearly their superficiality Moods are deadly,desperately serious things when taken seriously and indulged in to the full extent of their power They are like

a tiny spot directly in front of the eye We see that, and that only It blurs and shuts out everything else Wegroan and suffer and are unhappy and wretched, still persistently keeping our eye on the spot, until finally weforget that there is anything else in the world In mind and body we are impressed by that and that alone Thusthe difficulty of moving off a little distance is greatly increased, and liberation is impossible until we do moveaway, and, by a change of perspective, see the spot for what it really is

Let any one who is ruled by moods, in a moment when he is absolutely free from them, take a good look at allpast moody states, and he will see that they come from nothing, go to nothing, and, are nothing Indeed, thathas been and is often done by the moody person, with at the same time an unhappy realization that when themoods are on him, they are as real as they are unreal when he is free To treat a mood as a good joke whenyou are in its clutches, is simply out of the question But to say, "This now is a mood Come on, do yourworst; I can stand it as long as you can," takes away all nerve-resistance, until the thing has nothing to clutch,and dissolves for want of nourishment If it proves too much for one at times, and breaks out in a bad

expression of some sort, a quick acknowledgment that you are under the spell of a bad mood, and a furtherinvitation to come on if it wants to, will loosen the hold again

If the mood is a melancholy one, speak as little as possible under its influence; go on and do whatever there is

to be done, not resisting it in any way, but keep busy

This non-resistance can, perhaps, be better illustrated by taking, instead of a mood, a person who teases It iswell known that the more we are annoyed, the more our opponent teases; and that the surest and quickest way

of freeing ourselves is not to be teased We can ignore the teaser externally with an internal irritation which hesees as clearly as if we expressed it We can laugh in such a way that every sound of our own voice proclaimsthe annoyance we are trying to hide It is when we take his words for what they are worth, and go with him,that the wind is taken out of his sails, and he stops because there is no fun in it The experience with a mood isquite parallel, though rather more difficult at first, for there is no enemy like the enemies in one's self, noteasing like the teasing from one's self It takes a little longer, a little heartier and more persistent process of

non-resistance to cure the teasing from one's own nature But the process is just as certain, and the freedomgreater in result.

Why is it not clear to us that to set our teeth, clench our hands, or hold any form of extreme tension andmistaken control, doubles, trebles, quadruples the impression of the feeling controlled, and increases by manydegrees its power for attacking us another time? Persistent control of this kind gives a certain sort of strength

It might be called sham strength, for it takes it out of one in other ways But the control that comes fromnon-resistance brings a natural strength, which not only steadily increases, but spreads on all sides, as thegrowth of a tree is even in its development

"If a man takes your cloak, give him your coat also; if one compel you to go a mile, go with him twain."

"Love your enemies, do good to them that hurt you, and pray for them that despitefully use you." Why have

we been so long in realizing the practical, I might say the physiological, truth of this great philosophy?

Possibly because in forgiving our enemies we have been so impressed with the idea that it was our enemies

we were forgiving If we realized that following this philosophy would bring us real freedom, it would befollowed steadily as a matter of course, and with no more sense that we deserved credit for doing a good thingthan a man might have in walking out of prison when his jailer opened the door So it is with our enemies themoods

I have written heretofore of bad moods only But there are moods and moods In a degree, certainly, oneshould respect one's moods Those who are subject to bad moods are equally subject to good ones, and thesuperficiality of the happier modes is just as much to be recognized as that of the wretched ones In fact, inrecognizing the shallowness of our happy moods, we are storing ammunition for a healthy openness andfreedom from the opposite forms With the full realization that a mood is a mood, we can respect it, and sogradually reach a truer evenness of life Moods are phases that we are all subject to whilst in the process offinding our balance; the more sensitive and finer the temperament, the more moods The rhythm of moods ismost interesting, and there is a spice about the change which we need to give relish to these first steps towardsthe art of living

It is when their seriousness is exaggerated that they lose their power for good and make slaves of us Theseriousness may be equally exaggerated in succumbing to them and in resisting them In either case they areour masters, and not our slaves They are steady consumers of the nervous system in their ups and downswhen they master us; and of course retain no jot of that fascination which is a good part of their very

shallowness, and brings new life as we take them as a matter of course Then we are swung in their rhythm,never once losing sight of the point that it is the mood that is to serve us, and not we the mood

As we gain freedom from our own moods, we are enabled to respect those of others and give up any endeavor

to force a friend out of his moods, or even to lead him out, unless he shows a desire to be led Nor do werejoice fully in the extreme of his happy moods, knowing the certain reaction

Respect for the moods of others is necessary to a perfect freedom from our own In one sense no man is alone

in the world; in another sense every man is alone; and with moods especially, a man must be left to work outhis own salvation, unless he asks for help So, as he understands his moods, and frees himself from theirmastery, he will find that moods are in reality one of Nature's gifts, a sort of melody which strengthens theharmony of life and gives it fuller tone

Freedom from moods does not mean the loss of them, any more than non-resistance means allowing them tomaster you It is non-resistance, with the full recognition of what they are, that clears the way

VII

TOLERANCE